Thoughts that Count
Recent Posts
3 Keys to Taking Your E-Commerce Site Global
Cloud-based platforms and services have made going global more of a plug-and-play proposition than ever before. You can plug specialized modules into your workflow that let you translate content, run analytics, edit across websites and more, without leaving your CMS.
The remaining challenges are more strategic in nature. Here are three things that you should know before diving in:
1. The world doesn’t revolve around the English language
To maximize your website or online business, you need to offer at least two language options to visitors to your site. The global population is not made up of... More
Posted on
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
by Calvin Scharffs
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
by Calvin Scharffs
Everything you need to know about naming your Drupal contributed project
So you're contributing a module or theme to the greater Drupal community. Awesome! We're thrilled that you're sharing your work.
Naming your project may be one of the last things on your mind, but a poor naming choice could cause you issues down the road. Your project name ends up in a lot of places, including: Google Search Results, Drupal.org related project listings, the URL to the project, the title of your project page, Drush commands, the filenames of your project files, hook invocations in your project, and CSS classes, to name a few. A name that's used inconsistently can be confusing... More
Posted on
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
by Bryan Braun
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
by Bryan Braun
5 Mistakes to Avoid on your Drupal Website - Number 2: Security
Good security practices protect your site from hacker attacks. In this article we'll look at some methods for reducing security risks on your site.
Drupal Security Best Practices
Drupal has good security built in if used correctly. However, once you begin to configure your site you might introduce new security issues. Plan configuration so that only trusted users have permissions that involve security risks.
Keep core and contrib modules updated
You may not opt to do some module updates if the fixes or improvements have no direct effect on your site, however you should... More
Posted on
Monday, February 17, 2014
by Heather James
Monday, February 17, 2014
by Heather James
Keeping Pace with DigitalDisruption.com
Here are some of the past week's highlights from DigitalDisruption.com, Acquia's portal for examining the impact of digital disruption.
Best practices for creating and driving social commerce experiences
As the increasingly social nature of the internet continues to alter the world of commerce, the most recent changes have seen the consumer take a more active role—a partnership role—in producing and consuming a brand’s content or services. In the past, user testing held a prominent place in many brands’ product development... More
Posted on
Friday, February 14, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, February 14, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Best practices for creating and driving social commerce experiences
As the increasingly social nature of the internet continues to alter the world of commerce, the most recent changes have seen the consumer take a more active role—a partnership role—in producing and consuming a brand’s content or services.
My most recent blog looked at how social commerce has defined the purchase process into three phases. In this blog, I’ll look at how social commerce is impacting the creation and consumption of products and services.
In the past, user testing held a prominent place in many brands’... More
Posted on
Friday, February 14, 2014
by Liza Kindred
Friday, February 14, 2014
by Liza Kindred
The Power of Drupal Multi-site Part 2: Hosting Infrastructure
In my previous post, I wrote about how multisite is a powerful mechanism for code management. In this post, I am going to talk about how to manage multi-site at an infrastructure level, and the considerations you should take when deciding upon your site architecture.
Gotchas and misconceptions
It's important to remember that multi-site is a way of managing code, not for deploying it - all of the scalability best practice that years of Drupal hosting has taught us applies as much to multi-site as it does to multi-docroot. You... More
Posted on
Thursday, February 13, 2014
by Cameron Tod
Thursday, February 13, 2014
by Cameron Tod
Getting Started with Forms in Drupal 8
Cross-posted with permission from Drupalize.Me
Forms are an essential part of any web application. They are the primary mechanism for collecting input from our users, and without them Drupal wouldn't be very useful. As such, they're also one of the first things people want to learn when they start learning Drupal. Forms are fundamental to creating Drupal modules, whether you're asking someone to leave a review of your video or giving an administrator the option to turn JavaScript aggregation off.
Form... More
Posted on
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
by Joe Shindelar
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
by Joe Shindelar
Ruben Teijeiro explains why Drupal is easy
This week's podcast is parts of a fun conversation I had with Ruben Teijeiro at Drupal Camp Vienna in December 2013. I "borrowed" him from mentoring Manuela Hutter at the code sprint to talk with me, but in the end, they both still managed to get a lot done that weekend. Thanks for your contributions, folks!
Ruben's description of himself on his Twitter page... More
Posted on
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
2014 Global Drupal 8 Sprint Weekend- Meet the Sprinters
The weekend of January 25 was the 2014 Global Sprint for Drupal 8 and at Genuine Interactive in Boston, we had over 40 people get together to contribute to the Drupal community and help prepare Drupal 8 for beta release. Running off of Genuine's espresso machine (which uses Linux), I helped with what I could in terms of documentation and other grammatical reviews that needed attention for Drupal Core.
With it being my first sprint, I was really excited to meet the sprinters and really understand why they are involved with Drupal. Here are a few sprinters I interviewed from this weekend!
Mike... More
Posted on
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
A Successful 2014 Global Drupal 8 Sprint Weekend at Genuine with Acquia
Cross-posted with permission from Genuine Interactive
Recently, Genuine hosted the 2014 Global Drupal 8 Sprint Weekend and Acquia co-sponsored the event with about 30 attendees. Drupalists from Boston and the New England area came together to work on issues to push Drupal 8 for beta release. And for those who couldn’t make it to Genuine’s office, participated via Google Hangout.
The event was a great success with contributors working all day to fix... More
Posted on
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by Lilian Ma
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by Lilian Ma
Top 3 Ways Online Support Communities Provide Value
Call centers, chat sessions, direct emails. These are effective methods of supporting developer communities. The advantages of replacing them with the social support of online communities, though, is a matter of simple math. In addition to lowering the costs of supporting developers, studies have shown that leveraging online communities also has the benefit of increasing customer satisfaction. After all, who better to troubleshoot your issue? A developer who dealt with the same issue a week ago, or someone either struggling to find the answer in a training manual or trying to dredge up second... More
Posted on
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by John Carione
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
by John Carione
5 Mistakes to Avoid on your Drupal Website - Number 1: Architecture
Drupal is one of the most flexible content management systems in existence. In this blog series, I'll go over five mistakes to avoid on your Drupal website which include: architecture, security, performance, infrastructure, and website lifecycle management.
Hat tip to my colleague Ryan MacInnis for prompting me to write this up!
From an architecture standpoint, these are the most vital decisions you'll make to ensure the success and performance of your Drupal website.
How you structure content
How you configure the display
How you organize functionality
Architecture: Content
Content is the... More
Posted on
Monday, February 10, 2014
by Heather James
Monday, February 10, 2014
by Heather James
All Commerce is Social: The 3 Phases of Purchase
Way back in 1999 -- a thousand years ago in internet years -- writer and designer named Darcy DiNucci coined the phrase Web 2.0. This marked the beginning of the web as a social experience, eventually altering commerce so that today customers can be brand advocates who play a crucial role in building your business.
You already know that your customers are talking about your brand on social media platforms, posting images from your product pages to Pinterest, and checking reviews. The brick-and-mortar and virtual commerce experiences have become so intertwined that customers sometimes even... More
Posted on
Monday, February 10, 2014
by Liza Kindred
Monday, February 10, 2014
by Liza Kindred
De basis van seo: hoger komen in de zoekmachines doe je zo
Een gestructureerde website, unieke en relevante content en inkomende links van andere websites. Dat zijn belangrijke ingrediënten voor een hoge ranking in de zoekmachineresultaten, zo blijkt uit de infographic ontwikkeld door de Music Business Association en mede mogelijk gemaakt door Acquia. Belangrijk is dat contentbeheerders beseffen dat search engine optimization (seo) een oneindig proces is. Je moet je website altijd blijven verbeteren wil je de concurrent verslaan.
Als contentbeheerder van een website kun je zelf veel doen om je ranking in de zoekmachines te verbeteren. Als je een goed... More
Posted on
Monday, February 10, 2014
by Rose Mensink
Monday, February 10, 2014
by Rose Mensink
This fortnight in Drupal core: February 8, 2014
What's new with Drupal 8?
It's been a remarkable couple of weeks for Drupal 8, with several landmark changes, a global sprint, and a surge in core issue queue activity.
Global sprint weekend
The second Global Sprint Weekend was held January 25-26. Over 400 sprinters participated at 39 locations on six continents, with others participating remotely in IRC. Some quick core issue queue statistics from the sprint timeframe:
80 new Drupal 8 core issues created
553 Drupal 8 patches submitted
2468 comments posted on 646 Drupal 8 issues
113 Drupal 8... More
Posted on
Saturday, February 8, 2014
by Angie Byron
Saturday, February 8, 2014
by Angie Byron
Keeping Pace with DigitalDisruption.com
Here are some of the past week's highlights from DigitalDisruption.com, Acquia's portal for examining the impact of digital disruption.
Steve Wozniak shares insights on future, and past
What’s on the mind of, Steve Wozniak, the man who holds the patent for “microcomputer for use with video display?” Not surprisingly for the man who built the first MacIntosh computer, he’s thinking about the usability of technology, specifically wearable technology.... More
Posted on
Friday, February 7, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Friday, February 7, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
“The Force” is with Twitter’s Brand Strategist at Apps World
Cross-posted with permission from Digital Disruption
SAN FRANCISCO - The dust has settled and the inflatable Android blow-up dolls have been put away...Apps World North America is officially over.
I finished Day 2 with probably the best talk I heard this week, given by Marc Heedt of Twitter. The brand strategist and social TV specialist for the online social networking platform, Heedt talked about how TV and Twitter are the “force multiplier” in the second screen experience.
“We’re seeing... More
Posted on
Thursday, February 6, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Thursday, February 6, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Mobile is Changing the Game for Sephora
Cross-posted with permission from Digital Disruption
SAN FRANCISCO- While you may be familiar with Sephora as the cosmetic store at the local mall, the beauty chain is very comfortable in the virtual marketplace as well, concentrating on social and mobile platforms.
I had the chance to catch up with Danny Sullivan, vice president of mobile for Sephora, while attending Day 2 of Apps World North America. I asked Sullivan to talk about how Sephora is approaching mobile and utilizing responsive design.... More
Posted on
Thursday, February 6, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Thursday, February 6, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
The Power of Drupal Multi-site - Part 1: Code Management
Drupal has a fantastically useful feature called Multi-site - it allows you to serve many sites from a single Drupal codebase. This can greatly reduce the overhead of managing code across multiple sites, and enables great agility in launching new sites quickly.
In this article, I'll go into the detail of multi-site and try to demonstrate how it could be useful for your organisation, and in a follow up post, I'll talk about... More
Posted on
Thursday, February 6, 2014
by Cameron Tod
Thursday, February 6, 2014
by Cameron Tod
Apps World North America: Day 1 Recap
Cross-posted with permission from Digital Disruption
After eight hours of panels, startup and app presentations, and a keynote by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, day 1 of Apps World North America is complete. Here are some of the highlights:
Steve Wozniak's Keynote
Right off the bat, Wozniak urged the crowd of about 8,000 to really think about what it means to be innovative. He pointed out that IBM had claimed to have been an innovative brand for 20 years, but more... More
Posted on
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Steve Wozniak shares insights on future, and past
Cross-posted with permission from Digital Disruption
SAN FRANCISCO -- What’s on the mind of, Steve Wozniak, the man who holds the patent for “microcomputer for use with video display?” Not surprisingly for the man who built the first MacIntosh computer, he’s thinking about the usability of technology, specifically wearable technology.
“Wearable tech is something that is huge today,” the personal computing pioneer who has come to be known simply as “Woz,” told me, adding, “But I think its... More
Posted on
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
by Ryan MacInnis
Responsive Website Launch: St. John’s University Rolls Out New Drupal Site
Cross-posted with permission from OHO Interactive
Launching a national advertising campaign that invests your valuable budget dollars in television, radio, print, outdoor, and online media is a great way to drive traffic and give a push toward reaching your business goals. But if you’re driving to a poor web experience, you’re wasting your money.... More
Posted on
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
by Rachel Sherman
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
by Rachel Sherman
Janez Urevc on Media in Drupal 8
I spoke with Slovenian Drupalist-extraordinary Janez Urevc at Drupal Camp Vienna 2013. Alongside being a Drupal developer at examiner.com, he is also a major force in everything media+Drupal. Janez is slashrsm on Drupal.org, Twitter and "all the other online services you can imagine." He's on the team planning Drupal Camp Alpe-Adria 2014, which will be in the beautiful Slovenian resort town of Portoroz in May. Knowing the wonderful Drupal community in Slovenia... More
Posted on
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
by Jeffrey McGuire
Acquia Rated Positive in Gartner MarketScope for User Experience Platforms
Late last week, Acquia was rated Positive by Gartner in their new MarketScope for User Experience Platforms.
What are User Experience Platforms (UXP) you ask? Here's what Gartner says:
Traditional approaches to architecting, developing and managing websites, portal sites and mobile apps use a variety of disconnected and duplicative tools... A UXP is an integrated set of tools for delivering modern websites and portals. It focuses on the front end, the presentation and user interaction layer.
When Gartner kicked off their... More
Posted on
Monday, February 3, 2014
by Tom Wentworth
Monday, February 3, 2014
by Tom Wentworth
Using Personas to Personalize User Experiences
Cross-posted with permission from Blue Coda
As user experience management continues to evolve on the web, websites are adapting by creating personalized experiences for their users. One of the ways we see many websites using personalization is through personas. Users can be grouped into personas based on comparing current web analytics to historic data. If you can determine the types of content most interesting to a particular persona, you can tailor their experience on your website to... More
Posted on
Monday, February 3, 2014
by Darrin Samaha
Monday, February 3, 2014
by Darrin Samaha
Pages
Blog Series
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2014
by Nick Veenhof
by Nick Veenhof
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2014
by Wim Leers
by Wim Leers
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014
by Alex Bronstein
by Alex Bronstein
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2014
by Joe Fender
by Joe Fender
Posted on Thursday, February 27, 2014
by Moshe Weitzman
by Moshe Weitzman